wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

More on the possible hog farm/COFA (confined animal feeding operation) connection to the new swine flu:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/mexican-lawmaker-factory_b_191579.html

"...Mexican newspapers have been reporting for weeks that residents living near Granjas Carroll's massive hog facility at La Gloria are falling ill with severe upper respiratory diseases. One five-year-old girl in the village just tested positive for swine flu - the bodies of two more children who died recently are being exhumed.

According to an April 5 article in La Jornada newspaper, "Clouds of flies emanate from the lagoons where Granjas Carroll discharges the fecal waste from its hog barns - as well as air pollution that has already caused an epidemic of respiratory infections in the town."

More than 400 people had already been treated for respiratory infections, and more than 60 percent of the town's 3,000 residents had reported getting sick, the paper said. State officials disputed that claim, and said the illnesses were caused by cold weather and dust in the air.

The problems began in early March, when many neighbors of the hog CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) became sick with colds and flu that quickly turned into lung infections, causing local health officials to impose a "sanitary cordon" around the area and begin a mass program of vaccination and home fumigation.

"According to state agents of the Mexican Social Security Institute, the vector of this outbreak are the clouds of flies that come out of the hog barns, and the waste lagoons into which the Mexican-US company spews tons of excrement," La Jornada reported. "Even so, state and federal authorities paid no attention to the residents, until today.""

#18 and #19 -- My thoughts exactly! Especially for those whose jobs probably don't have health insurance, they most likely don't have sick days -- or very few of them, and they live under threat of being fired for "overusing" whatever few sick days they may be allowed, paid and unpaid alike.

Thank you for bringing that up. It matters!

Too bad the care and consideration given to Big Banksters* isn't given to low level employees. Gee, what about single payer universal health insurance*? That would ensure people go to a doctor when they are sick, as opposed to waiting to be very, very ill and going to an ER....

*http://www.1payer.net/campaigns/efax-pelosi-single-payer-agenda.html -- A site which will send your fax to pertinent Dms in DC. Being done bcz aide to Speaker Pelosi said we, the public, need to make it known we want single payer, UHC, by sending sending faxes and emails, phoning. Easy way to do it, plus make your comments.

**Banksters -- FDR's term for rapacious, unresponsible bankers. Great word, Mr. President!

Re: # 14 -- Possibly the caller was thinking of viruses being spread by touch from a sick person, which might cling to doorknobs, other surfaces at, say, local drugstores, bodegas, grocery stores.

Since the school is scrubbing down surfaces (which? and why?), it suggests the virus may live on inorganic surfaces for...a long enough time that the school could still carry live viruses even after being closed, plus the weekend? (Or, was it closed at all during the week...?)

I would understand wiping down surfaces in a plane between trips, since the turnaround time for a plane isn't very long. But a whole school?

Plus, if kids got the airborne exposure to the virus, they might come back to school in prime time to continue shedding the virus, right? But still not exhibiting determinative symptoms? Hhhhmmm.

Stay home if you are sick?
Tell that to the boss!

What about people who don't get paid unless they work?

Who is going to pay their bills?

And how many bosses will gladly tolerate when workers stay home "sick" with mild symptoms -- without a doctor's note?

Sure, if you're sick you'd like to stay home but how many people can really do that? Not everyone gets sick days. In the work environment of today, not everyone can/will sacrifice their income.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-smithfield/

Article has linked Mexico's swine flu to poor treatment of hog waste from humongus Smithfield hog farm near epicenter of current outbreak. One vector is possibly a type of fly which breeds in hog waste ponds.

I'm not impressed with this guest. Why doesn't he mention the similarities to the 1918 pandemic with respect to the age ranges of those dying, ie. 20-40?

Also, that one hit in 3 stages, with the first being mild.

Regardless, we will be better equipped to deal with this.

If the EU is recommending that people don't fly into the US, are they going to turn away people flying in to the EU? I have a flight to Ireland next week. Will I be let in to the country?

The caller lives 5 (5!!) blocks from a school and that gives him special cause for concern???

Huh?

Will those who had the swine flu shots in 1976 have any residual resistance?

Also, according to the author of 1491, a book about what the Americas were like prior to Columbus, it is stated that in general indigienous peoples in the Americas developed strong resistance to parasites, while Europeans and other Old World peopls had more resistance to viruses. This is one explanation given for the extremely high kill rate for viruses introduced to the New World by Europeans.

1) Is this accurate?
2) Is this still a strong factor in how people in, primarily Central and South America, deal with exposure to new viruses?

Oops, here is the link to the Sat ATC:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103495140

Here is a story from Saturday's All Things Considered that does a much better job than your guest explaining why 25-45 year olds are susceptible to severe swine flu.

I'd like to here your guests thoughts on the two possibilities outline in the story, please.

THanks,

Weather, Mexico City (via Google):
66°F
Current: Clear
Wind: N at 0 mph
Humidity: 43%Mon

84°F | 53°FTue
86°F | 53°FWed
87°F | 53°FThu
93°F | 55°F

Humidity seems pretty low.

Brian- Good job on trying to calm some of the hysteria that a lot of other media are creating, but how about addressing factory farming- the conditions that create these viruses in the first place?
www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/swine_flu.html. Also, the Rumsfeld-Tamiflu link also bears investigating, imo...

I remember reading that if you have a full blown case of the flu, you are no longer contagious. You are contagious only when the flu is incubating.

Is this true?

How long can the virus survive on a non-organic surface, e.g., a doorknob?

Could the fact that the U.S. cases have apparently been less serious suggest that this virus becomes weaker as it passes from person to person?

What if a restaurant kitchen worker has swine flu? Can you get the flu from food (including pork) that they have handled?

is it possible that there is no evidence of the outbreak in the ny mexican community because (illegal) immigrants don't go back and forth (as brian said) but are trapped north of the boarder.

is it also possible that US tourists brought a flu to mexico and the locals have no immunity to this american strain?

Fuva...
Google "Why don't we do it in our sleeves", a simple but fabulously creative video campaign about proper coughing technique.

is there a difference between immigrants and non immigrants, mexicans and non-mexicans, and legals and non legals -- in terms of risk both of spreading and also catching this virus?

"Cover your mouth when you cough" instructions should specifically advise people to "COVER YOUR MOUTH & NOSE WITH A NAPKIN OR HANDKERCHIEF when you cough". This is an important detail. How to advise officials and agencies to include this in their advisories?